Program offers support to fishing families

Commercial fishing has a long tradition on Cape Cod, but "not many understand the fishing way of life," said Marian Scolles, who does commercial shellfishing out of Cotuit.

Susan Vaughn

FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR – Mark Lazzari and Marian Scolles haul in the shellfish Lazzari caught from his boat Thursday morning on Cotuit Harbor. He then transported the 500-pound haul for sale to the Aquaculture Farm in Dennis. The couple are strong supporters of the Fishing Partnership Support Services.

Partnership helps with health insurance and many human services

Commercial fishing has a long tradition on Cape Cod, but “not many understand the fishing way of life,” said Marian Scolles, who does commercial shellfishing out of Cotuit.

However, one organization on the Cape does understand the life of a fisherman or woman. It is the Fishing Partnership Support Services, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit, which has been supporting the health and well being of hundreds of fishing families since 1997, yet some may still not know about its many services.

Scolles, 50, and her significant other and fishing partner, Mark Lazzari, 51, have taken advantage of free membership in the Partnership and have only good things to say about it.

“It’s a fantastic program,” Scolles said in a phone interview this week. “Because we live by the tide, we don’t have time to do research,” adding that neither of them is computer-savvy, so the referral services are convenient for them.

In addition to connecting fishing families to health insurance programs, the partnership can help them access services for legal, financial, child and elder care and other human services. The staff helps write wills.

When Scolles and Lazzari needed some minor legal advice, she said, “It worked like 1, 2, 3.” The partnership office in Chatham directed them to an attorney and they got a call back in six hours.

The Fishing Partnership has a member base of 2,000 individuals from Cape and Islands fishing families, according to Morgan Eldredge Parker, who was hired last fall as the first full-time Cape and Islands community health navigator and certified application counselor to enroll families in the federal Affordable Care Act insurance.

“We make sure they have health insurance,” she said. Many of the families first had a transitional health plan, then moved over to the state health plan, and now must move over to the federal program.

“They need a lot of help navigating the system,” Parker said. Because the fishing industry is unpredictable, fishermen can’t project their income in ways that the insurance plans request, she said.

In addition to health and human services, Parker also coordinates and helps facilitate free Safety-at-Sea trainings, CPR and ergonomics courses, and financial planning out of the Stage Harbor office that she took over from her mother. The partnership also will host a dental clinic April 5 and hopes to offer the sea safety training on the Islands in the fall, she said. Some fishermen from Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard come to the Cape for the courses.

“I’m hoping that people know we have other services,” Parker said, noting that they have been underutilized. Members of the partnership have 24-7 access to all the services.

Parker understands the needs of the fishing families because she comes from a long line of Eldredge family fishermen. Her father, sister, brother-in-law and several uncles and cousins fish out of Chatham and operate the weir fishing business there. Her sister, Shannon Eldredge, also works with her at the partnership.

The members assistance program has been running for four years throughout the state and part of New England, and Parker said, “We’re trying to stretch it regionally.”

The services are funded by grants; all the programs and classes are free.

To make an appointment for the dental clinic or for any other service or information, call Parker at 508-237-9402, e-mail mparker@fishingpartnership.org, or visit the web site at www.fishingpartnership.org.